Geological Society of Washington
Minutes from the 1490th Meeting
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
John Wesley Powell Auditorium
Cosmos Club, Washington, DC
President Mock called the 49 attendees of the 1490th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington to order at 8:00 pm. The minutes from the 1489th meeting were read and approved with no corrections.
Two guests were introduced:
Chris King, NRCS- Arkansas
Ron Gescalp, Eritrea
One new member was introduced:
Alan Munro, NoVa CC
There was one announcement:
Nora Noftke was elected as a Fellow of AAAS.
Formal presentations:
Nora Noffke, the First Vice President introduced the speaker, GSW President Timothy Mock. President Mock gave the Presidential Address titled, “The Trans-Hudson Orogen: The hunt for the Sask Craton.” Mock discussed the rocks of Churchill River region, Northern Saskatchewan. The Sask Craton is buried at depth with a dense root. Its location was detected through the Vibroseis exploration as part of the Lithoprobe Survey. Associated with the terrane are diamond-bearing kimberlites including the recent Pikoo discovery and Fort à la Corne mine to begin operations in 2017.
President Mock adjourned the 1490th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington at 8:39 pm.
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1491st Meeting
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
Geological Society of Washington President Nora Noffke called the 79 attendees at the 1491st meeting of GSW to order at 8:00 pm. The minutes of the 1490th meeting were read and approved with one correction.
Sixteen guests were announced: Jim Adams (Formerly of NoVA and now in Alaska); Liz Crafford (Unaffiliated Geologist); Tom Crafford (State of Alaska’s Governor’s Office); Ryan Daniel (NASA); Carol Frost (UWY & NSF); Bridget Gomez (NoVA) Janet Herman (NSF); James O’Brien (NoVA); Karina Renaud (USGS); Jeffery Rollins (ODU); Madeleine Rushing (GMU); Jon Sanfilippo (Former USGS); Carol Sharp (Speaker’s wife); Marion Sharp (Speaker’s sister, Pierce College); Isaak Shomer (US Patent and Trademark Office); Will Stettner (USGS).
One new member was announced, Berhanemeskel Teklu.
Four announcements were made:
1. President Noffke explained that GSW is looking for Chairs for the Sleeping Bear and the Award Committees.
2. President Noffke announced that Tim Mock is the new GSW Archivist. Great thanks go to Tim for taking the position and to Bill Burton for previously holding the position.
3. Muffarah Marr announced that she is looking for volunteer science fair judges from GSW.
4. Chris Gellasch announced that the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America will be held in Baltimore, MD in November 2015 and that the deadline for proposing Technical Sessions is February 1, 2015.
There were no informal communications.
Formal Communications:
First, John Sharp of University of Texas at Austin gave a talk titled “Volcanogenic Karst Systems” in which he detailed the evidence and field work supporting a proposed model of origin and development of VKS around the world.
Questions were asked by Carl-Henry Geschwind, Barbara am Ende, Bob Tucker, Bill Burton, Sean Brennan, and Brent Grocholski.
Second, Robert Tucker of USGS gave a talk titled “The Khanneshin Carbonatite: A Major Resource of LREE in Helmand Province, Afghanistan” in which he detailed a US government project and fieldwork conducted between the years 2004 to 2014 to assess Afghanistan’s light rare earth element prospects. Conclusion, Afghanistan is a marketable prospect.
Questions were asked by Jaime Allen, Brent Grocholski, and Sean Brennan.
Third, Thomas Holtz of University of Maryland gave a talk titled “New Information on Diversity Patterns of Western North American Dinosaurs at the End of the Cretaceous” in which he discussed diversity patterns in the end of the age of dinosaurs and asked if Laramidia really was an “engine” of diversity.
Questions were asked by Carl-Henry Geschwind and Nick Geboy.
The 1491st meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:36 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Devlin-Gill
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1492nd Meeting
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
Geological Society of Washington President Nora Noffke called the 62 attendees at the 1492nd meeting of GSW to order at 8:00 pm. The minutes of the 1491st meeting were read and approved with one correction.
Eight guests were announced: Simon Carn (MTU); Robert Detrick (IRIS); Emma McCanville (UMD); Hans van Poelvoorde (Charles Darwin Foundation); David Rykken (HHS); Jack Sharp (NSF); Jonathan Tiro (UMD); Scott Wipperforth (UMD)
Two new members were announced: Emma Bullock (SI); Mattia Pistone (SI)
Two announcements were made:
1. Muffarah Marr announced that she is still searching for GSW volunteers as science fair judges.
2. Pete Toulmin suggested that GSW form a Committee to award the Sleeping Bear Award soon, since that award has not been given out in recent years.
There were no informal communications.
Formal Communications:
First, Carol Frost of the University of Wyoming gave a talk titled “A Neoarchean Himalayan orogeny in the Teton Range, Wyoming: Earth’s earliest continent–continent collision?” Standing on the shoulders on GSW giant Jack Reed, Carol used geochemistry and Jack’s detailed mapping of the Teton Range to identify and name the Bitch Creek Gneiss and proposed a tectonic model explaining the formation of the Teton Range gneisses.
Questions were asked by Carl-Henry Geschwind, Kevin Marvel, Pete Toulmin, and Mark Kurz.
Second, Mark Kurz of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution gave a talk titled “Helium from the center of the Galapagos hotspot” in which he detailed that the highest 3He/4He in the archipelago are located at Fernandina Island, thus indicating that Fernandina Island is currently the center of the Galapagos hotspot.
Questions were asked by Carl-Henry Geschwind, Rich Walker, Pete Toulmin, Jeff Standish, and Kevin Marvel.
Third, Dennis Geist of the University of Idaho gave a talk titled “Geologic controls on biodiversity and phylogeography in the Galapagos” in which he discussed the importance of understanding geologic, tectonic, and paleogeographic evolution along with biological evolution using case studies from the Galapagos.
Questions were asked by Larry Meinert, Victor Zabielski, Carl-Henry Geschwind, Jack Sharp, and Rick Wunderman.
The 1492nd meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:40 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Devlin-Gill
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1493rd Meeting
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
Geological Society of Washington President-elect Jamie Allen called the 26 attendees at the 1493rd meeting of GSW to order at 8:00 pm. The minutes of the 1492nd meeting were read and approved.
Three guests were announced: Ryan Dale (Extraction Industry); Hunter Hughes (NOVA); Sophia Liu (USGS)
Six new members were announced: Liz Crafford (GeoLogic Research); Tom Crafford (State of Alaska); Carol Frost (UWY & NSF); Thomas Klopf (Consultant); David Rykken (HHS); Jennifer Wade (NSF)
Formal Communications:
First, Stephen Malys of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency gave a talk titled “Journey to the center of the Earth: Status of the terrestrial reference frame” in which he detailed the history, development, and status of the ITRF2008, which successfully measured the center of mass of the Earth to an accuracy of 1 inch, the size of a postage stamp.
Questions were asked by Kevin Marvel, Doug Duncan, Pat Carr, Nick Geboy, and Liz Crafford.
Second, John Amos of SkyTruth gave a talk titled “Earth from space: Bringing the crowd to environmental investigation” in which he detailed various successful SkyTruth projects that used remote sensing and digital mapping to create images that expose landscape disruption and habitat degradation caused by human activities with the goal of contributing to the national understanding.
Questions were asked by Victor Zabielski, Sophia Liu, Doug Duncan, Jamie Allen, Hunter Hughes, and Pat Carr.
The 1493rd meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:34 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Devlin-Gill
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1494th Meeting
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
Geological Society of Washington President Nora Noffke called the 66 attendees at the 1494th meeting of GSW to order at 8:00 pm. The minutes of the 1493rd meeting were read and approved.
Eleven guests were announced: Ken Bradbury (WGS); Michelle Beck (VT); Janet Herman (NSF & UVA); Colin Jackson (CIW); Emma McConville (UMD); Rita Parai (CIW); Jon Price (State of NV); Beth Price; Jessica Rodysill (USGS); Jonathan Tino (UMD); Jennifer Whitten (SI)
One new member was announced: Richard Carlson (CIW)
Informal communications:
1. President Noffke announced that Former GSW President and long-time member Doug Rankin passed away on February 25th. The meeting attendees held a moment of silence in Doug’s honor.
2. Muffarah Marr announced a science fair update and asked for eight rock donations for use as prizes for winners.
3. Chris Gellasch announced the upcoming meeting of the 11th International Conference on Military Geosciences occurring June 15-19, 2015 in Annapolis, MD, which has an abstract deadline of May 1, 2015.
Formal Communications:
First, Robert Detrick of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology gave a talk titled “EarthScope’s US Array: New images of the structure and evolution of the North American continent” in which he described the successes of the EarthScope US Array, a project which, in 2011, Popular Science named #1 in its list of the 10 most ambitious experiments in the universe.
Questions were asked by Jaime Allen, Carl-Henry Geschwind, and Mark Kurz.
Second, Nicole West of the Pennsylvania State University gave a talk titled “Isotopic tracers of asymmetric watershed evolution” in which she quantified the efficiency of regolith transport along hillslopes of opposing aspect in the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory.
Questions were asked by Bill Burton, Jaime Allen, and Carl-Henry Geschwind.
Third, Raghuram Murtugudde of University of Maryland gave a talk titled “Climate and the global reach of the Galapagos archipelago” in which he described the effect of the Galapagos on the equatorial under current and the subsequent effects on the atmosphere over thousands of kilometers and the recurrence of the El Niño.
Questions were asked by Chris Gellasch, Bill Burton, Dennis Geist, and Jaime Allen.
The 1494th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:38 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Devlin-Gill
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1495th Meeting
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
Geological Society of Washington President Nora Noffke called the 64 attendees at the 1495th meeting of GSW to order at 8:00 pm. The minutes of the 1494th meeting were read and approved.
Nine guests were present: Andy Frassetto (IRIS); Lisa Harbour (USGS); Aleeza Harburger (USGS); Colin Jackson (CIW); Emma McConville (UMD); Stavros Papadopoulos (SSP&A); Rita Parai (CIW); Thomas Pratt (USGS); Meredith Reitz (USGS); Jonathan Tino (UMD)
Two new members were announced: Ryan Dale (Adventure Works) and Jessica Rodysill (USGS)
Announcements:
1. Jane Hammarstrom announced that during the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in November occurring in Baltimore, MD there will be a session to honor the legacy of E-an Zen's contributions to geology. The abstract deadline is August 11, 2015.
2. Dan Doctor announced that the 2015 GSW Spring field trip is scheduled for Saturday, May 2, 2015 and will be a cross section through karst areas of the Mid-Atlantic Piedmont to the Great Valley. Please see the GSW website for more information.
3. President Noffke announced that at the April 1, 2015 Council Meeting, the Council voted to amend the GSW Bylaws to make online membership applications easier. Changes to the Bylaws are posted on the GSW website for review by GSW Members and Members will vote on these amendments at the Regular Meeting on May 13, 2015.
Formal Communications:
First, William Burton of the U.S. Geological Survey gave a talk titled “Searching for the fault: Geologic investigations in the epicentral region of the 2011 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake” in which he described concentrated geologic study in the areas of two adjoining quadrangles in the central Virginia Piedmont in the form of bedrock and surficial mapping and near-surface trenching in order to identify potential seismogenic structures likely representative of surface features associated with Quaternary earthquakes in the Central Virginia seismic zone.
Questions were asked by Carl-Henry Geschwind.
Second, Keir Soderberg of S.S. Papadopulos & Associates gave a talk titled “The role of fog in the hydrology and geochemistry of the Namib Desert” in which he described using stable isotopes to determine plant water sources and examined the relationship between fog and sulfur.
Questions were asked by Barbara am Ende, Doug Duncan, Nick Geboy, Carl-Henry Geschwind, Hal Gluskoter, George Helz, Dan Milton, and Nora Noffke.
Third, Jennifer Wade of the National Science Foundation gave a talk titled “Forensic geochemistry, from subduction zones to Capitol Hill” in which she described her work with the US Library of Congress and Holocaust Memorial Museum using analytical geochemistry to study historical artifacts.
Questions were asked by Barbara Am Ende, Bill Burton, Erik Hankin, Carl-Henry Geschwind, Mark McBride, and Dan Milton.
The 1495th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:38 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Devlin-Gill
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1496th Meeting
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
Geological Society of Washington President Nora Noffke called the 65 attendees at the 1496th meeting of GSW to order at 8:00 pm.
President Noffke announced the
Science Fair winners that participated in a GSW poster session prior to the
Regular Meeting and presented them with awards. The winners were Ana Humphrey
(Northern Virginia Science and Engineering Fair), John Bielec (Prince George’s
County Area Science Fair), Reese Fulgenzi and Maria Chavez (Loudoun County
Public Schools Regional Science and Engineering Fair), and Zachary
Garrigus (Howard County Mathematics, Science and Technology Fair).
The minutes of the 1495th meeting were read and approved with one correction.
Nine guests were present: Philip Anderson (GWU); Ashley Bell; Lindsey Bowman (WVU); Nadia El-Masry (NSF); Andy Frassetto (IRIS); Erika Kuroda (NOVA), Emma McConville (UMD); Jonathan Tino (UMD); Christy Wright
One new member was announced: Stewart Wills (The Optical Society)
Announcements:
1. President Noffke announced that former GSW President and long-time member David Benjamin Stuart passed away. The meeting attendees held a moment of silence in David’s honor. There will be a memorial held at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens on Friday, May 29th from 1-4pm.
2. Muffarah Marr gave a report on the GSW Public Service Committee and announced an update of this year’s science fair successes.
3. John Repetski announced that during the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in November occurring in Baltimore, MD there will be a session titled “Conodonts from Black Shales and Other Rocks: In Honor of Anita G. Harris.” Abstract deadline is August 11, 2015.
4. Dan Doctor announced that the 2015 GSW Spring field trip is scheduled for Saturday, May 2nd.
5. Dan Doctor announced that a memorial service and reception for former GSW President and long-time member Doug Rankin is open to all GSW Members and would be held at the Cosmos Club on Sunday, May 3rd.
Formal Communications:
First, Margaret (Maggie) Benoit of The College of New Jersey gave a talk titled “Supercontinental scars: Variations in the structure of the deep crust and mantle beneath the Appalachians and mid-Atlantic margin” in which she described preliminary results from receiver function analysis of the Moho and hypothesized that changes in Moho topography could be causing seismicity in the Central Virginia Seismic Zone.
Questions were asked by Pat Carr, Bill Craddock, Stephanie Devlin-Gill, Carl-Henry Geschwind, and Steve Shirey.
Second, Callan Bentley of the Northern Virginia Community College gave a talk titled “GigaPan applications in geological education, research, and outreach” in which he demonstrated the power of using GigaPan equipment and online viewers to combine big picture views with detailed zooming of images of hand samples, outcrops, LiDAR, and microscopy thin sections.
Questions were asked by Jaime Allen, Harvey Cohen, Liz Crafford, Dan Doctor, Carl-Henry Geschwind, John Jens, Mark McBride, and Emma McConville.
Third, Harvey Cohen of S.S. Papadopulos & Associates gave a talk titled “The pressure to depressurize: Controlling coastal plain aquifer water levels for construction of the Blue Plains Tunnel terminus” in which he detailed the analytical models used to design the dewatering system during shaft excavation for the DC Clean Rivers Project.
Questions were asked by Dan Doctor, Lenny Konikow, and Rick Wunderman.
The 1496th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:46 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Devlin-Gill
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1497th Meeting
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
Geological Society of Washington President Nora Noffke called the 44 attendees at the 1497th meeting of GSW to order at 8:00 pm.
The minutes of the 1496th meeting were read and approved.
Four guests were present: Sam Adler (Rock Creek Park Nature Center); Carol Plumlee (Nurse); Emma (USGS Denver); Bob Stern (DTM)
One new member was announced: Robert Busby
Announcements:
1. President Noffke announced that former GSW President and long-time member David Benjamin Stuart passed away. The meeting attendees held a moment of silence in David’s honor.
2. President Noffke held a Member vote on changes to the GSW Bylaws for the purpose of making online membership applications easier. The vote result was approved as corrected.
3. President Noffke announced that at the Council voted to amend the GSW Bylaws to modify the roles of the Council and Meeting Secretaries. Changes to the Bylaws are posted on the GSW website for review by GSW Members and Members will vote on these amendments at the Regular Meeting on September 9, 2015.
Informal Communication:
President Noffke presented “Glück auf!,” or “I wish you to return safely from working underground,” a presentation covering the onset of mining in Germany during prehistoric times, its development during the Roman influence, the stagnation during the Medieval, and the flourishing during the industrialization of Europe. Today, mining in Germany is reduced to only a few active mines, but mining technologies are one of the top export products.
Formal Communications:
First, Matthew Schmidt of Old Dominion University gave a talk titled “Abrupt climate change: Secrets from below the sea surface” in which he described geochemical analyses coupled with ocean-atmosphere models to investigate a subsurface oceanic teleconnection linking high-latitude North Atlantic climate to the tropical Atlantic during periods of reduced Atlantic meridional overturning circulation across the last deglacial transition.
Questions were asked by Victor Zabielski, Jaime Allen, and Carl-Henry Geschwind.
Second, Laurent Montési of University of Maryland gave a talk titled “Fabric evolution and the formation of ductile shear zones” in which he described that geological constraints on lithospheric strength and large strain numerical experiments reveal the development of layers containing weak minerals and the onset of grain boundary sliding upon grain size reduction in olivine causes strain localization and reduces strength in the crust and subcontinental mantle resulting in the progressive development of weak plate boundaries while plate interiors remain strong.
Questions were asked by Jaime Allen, Pat Carr, and Bill Burton.
Third, Geoffrey Plumlee of the U.S. Geological Survey gave a talk titled “Geosciences, human health, and disasters: Compelling examples of transdisciplinary science” in which he described his career of transdisciplinary research involving a geochemical perspective on interaction of minerals on the human body.
Questions were asked by Carl-Henry Geschwind, Bill Burton, and Jaime Allen.
The 1497th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:49 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Devlin-Gill
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1498th Meeting
Wednesday, September 09, 2015
John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
Geological Society of Washington President Nora Noffke called the 63 attendees at the 1498th meeting of GSW to order at 8:02 pm.
The minutes of the 1497th meeting were read and approved.
Ten guests were present: Justin Bardwell (NVCC), Barbara Bekins (USGS), Yael Fitzpatrick (AGU), Deborah Hutchinson (USGS), Darian Kelly (NVCC), Alex Overman (NIITEK), Emiliano Sartin (NVCC), Khalil Sekander (NVCC), Michael Toomey (USGS), Jennifer Whitten (SI)
One new member was announced: Ben Feinsilver (GMU)
Announcements:
4. President Noffke held a Member vote on changes to the GSW Bylaws to modify the roles of the Council and Meeting Secretaries. The vote was approved with no corrections with 39 members voting in favor of the changes and one member abstained. See the Appendix for the exact language.
5. President Noffke made a call for nominations and volunteers for the election of officers and committees for 2016. If you know of someone who would be good for either, or you wish to volunteer, please contact the President Noffke.
Formal Communications:
First, Christopher Sweezey of U.S. Geological Survey gave a talk titled “Eolian sand sheets and dunes in the southeastern United States during the last glacial maximum” in which he described geologic mapping of the sand hills in the Savannah River Valley, the Carolina Bays, and the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge focusing on Quaternary eolian dunes as a record of climate variability.
Questions were asked by Carl-Henry Geschwind, Victor Zabielski, Brooks Hanson, Mark McBride, Nick Geboy, Sandy Neuzil, Karen Prestegaard, John Repetski, and Nora Noffke.
Second, Jessica Rodysill of U.S. Geological Survey gave a talk titled “Multi-decadal droughts in Indonesia during the past 1500 years inferred from lake sediments” in which she described studying calcite abundances, carbon isotopes, and other published proxies to develop paleo-climate reconstructions of lakes in East Java. Rodysill concluded that severe multidecadal drought in East Java throughout the turn of the 19th century was driven by locally reduced convection resulting from a combination of heightened El Niño activity and volcanic eruptions.
Questions were asked by Victor Zabielski, Brooks Hanson, and Carl-Henry Geschwind.
Third, Natalie Burls of George Mason University gave a talk titled “Contrasting the hydrologic cycle in past and future warm climates with implications for ocean overturning circulation” in which she described conducting sensitivity experiments that suggest changes in cloud radiative forcing played a key role in supporting the structurally different sea surface temperatures field of the Pliocene.
Questions were asked by Jaime Allen, Brooks Hanson, Carl-Henry Geschwind, Victor Zabielski, and Pat Carr.
The 1498th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:49 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Devlin-Gill
APPENDIX
Changes to the GSW Bylaws to modify the roles of the Council and Meeting Secretaries are as follows:
1. In Article IV, Section 2(a), the Meeting Secretary and the Council Secretary are added to the list of officers to be elected for one-year terms.
2. Article IV, Section 2(b) (which provides that Secretaries are to be elected for two years, to serve as Meeting Secretary for the first year and Council Secretary for the second year) is deleted.
3. Article IV, Section 2(c) is renumbered as Section 2(b).
4. In Article IV, Section 3(a), the Council Secretary is added to the list of officers for whom the Nominations Committee is to identify nominees.
5. The term "Senior (Council) Secretary" is changed to "Council Secretary" in the following places: Article III, Section 4(c); Article III, Section 11; Article IV, Section 1; Article IV, Section 3(c); Article IV, Section 5; Article IV, Section 7; Article VI, Section 4; Article XI; Article XIV; and Article XV.
6. The term "Junior (Meeting) Secretary" is changed to "Meeting Secretary" in the following places: Article IV, Section 1; Article IV, Section 3(a); Article IV, Section 5; Article IV, Section 7; and Article XIV.
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1499th Meeting
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
Geological Society of Washington President Nora Noffke called the 80 attendees at the 1499th meeting of GSW to order at 8:00 pm.
The minutes of the 1498th meeting were read and approved with four corrections.
Sixteen guests were present: Beth Price, Daniel Hummer, Angela Marusiak (UMD), Kelly ?, Harvey Thorleifson (Minnesota Geological Survey)
From NSF: Amy Chen, Jessamin Stravo, Thom Wilco
From NVCC: Conner Dilbeck, Marissa Dudek, Ian Findley, Yoselin Garcia, Darian Kelly, Kyheng Lor, Michael McGruder, Michael Nichols, Khalil Sekander, Murrell Streeter
Two new members were announced: Yael Fitzpatrick (AGU), Cecily Wolfe (USGS)
Announcements:
1. Nick Geboy announced that the new GSW Facebook page now exists.
2. Dan Doctor announced that the Department of Geology and Geography at West Virginia University posted a position for hire.
3. Dan Doctor conducted a field trip survey of meeting attendees’ preferred field trip location.
4. Nick Geboy announced that online membership applications would by available on the GSW website by Friday, Oct 3rd.
5. President Noffke made a call for nominations and volunteers for the election of officers and committees for 2016.
Formal Communications:
First, Robert Lowell of Virginia Polytechnic Institute gave a talk titled “Developing an integrated magma-hydrothermal model at mid-ocean ridges.” Lowell described using mathematical modeling to characterize flow circulation at mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal systems and argued that both convection and replenishment occurs in the magma chamber to maintain steady state heat output.
Questions were asked by Liz Crafford, George Helz, and Patt Carr.
Second, Dina Bower of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center gave a talk titled “Understanding the origins of possible cyanobacterial biosignatures in ancient siliclastic rocks” in which she described using micro-raman spectroscopy to investigate how cyanobacterial textures and their components change over time and at increased temperatures.
Questions were asked by Bob Burruss, Amy Chen, Bob Lowell, Dan Doctor.
Third, Richard Walker of the University of Maryland gave a talk titled “The chemical structure and mixing history of the oceanic mantle: New insights from ophiolites” in which he used an example from the Leka, Norway ophiolite to investigate why highly siderophile element abundances and oxygen isotopes play an important role in the workings of the oceanic mantle.
Questions were asked by Ved Lekic, Dan Doctor, Bob Lowell.
The 1499th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:35 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Devlin-Gill
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1500th Meeting
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
Geological Society of Washington President Nora Noffke called the 57 attendees at the 1500th meeting of GSW to order at 8:00 pm.
The minutes of the 1499th meeting were read and approved.
Ten guests were present: John Bardwell (USPTO), Justin Bardwell (NVCC), Craig Eckert (AAPG), Sheela Fabian (NEI), Adrienne Fabich, Marilyn Horvath, Darian Kelly (NVCC), Randy Nicklas, Khalil Sekander (NVCC), Danielle Woodring (AGI)
Two new members were announced: Joe Schools (UMD), Josh Benton (NoVA)
Announcements:
6. President Noffke announced the Slate of Officers for 2016, which are to be voted on at the Annual Meeting on December 9, 2015. See the appendix for the slate.
7. Bill Burton announced the GSW fall field trip will take place on Saturday, November 21st and is titled “Ancient and modern tectonism in the Central Virginia seismic zone.”
Informal Communication:
1. Craig Eckert, the President of the Eastern Section AAPG, gave a brief description of the Eastern Section of AAPG and encouraged GSW members to join The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
2. In honor of the GSW’s 1500th meeting, Former GSW President Tim Mock gave a commemorative presentation on the history of GSW.
Formal Communications:
First, Donald Swift of Old Dominion University gave a talk titled “Cretaceous stratigraphy of the U.S. western interior: Dominated by diastrophism or eustasy?” in which he described that in mountain systems, diastrophic and eustatic signals occur together. Swift detailed that eustatic events such as alloformations are clearly visible and diastrophic events increase in severity towards the tectonic front and are randomly distributed in time.
Questions were asked by Mark Zerniak and Pat Carr
Second, R. Willie Nicklas of University of Maryland gave a talk titled “The oxidation state of komatiites and the redox history of the Archean mantle” in which he described using standard-addition solution ICP-MS and laser ablation ICP-MS to resolve a trend of increasing oxygen fugacity in the mantle leading up to The Great Oxidation Event, 2.4 billion year ago.
Questions were asked by Carl-Henry Geschwind, Ved Lekic, Bill Burton, Victor Zabielski, Scott Wipperfurth
The 1500th meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:36 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Devlin-Gill
APPENDIX
Slate of Officers for 2016:
President: Jamie Allan*
Past-President: Nora Noffke*
1st VP & President Elect: Callan Bentley
2nd Vice President: Karen Prestegaard
Treasurer: Odette James
Meeting Secretary: Carl-Henry Geschwind
Council Secretary: Pat Carr
Continuing Councilors: Maeve Boland*
Rick Arevalo*
Diana Roman*
New GSW Councilors: Joshua Benton
(2016-2018) Mattia Pistone
Elizabeth Crafford
*Officers and councilors carrying over from 2015.
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1501st Meeting
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
Geological Society of Washington President Nora Noffke called the 69 attendees at the 1501st meeting of GSW to order at 8:00 pm.
The minutes of the 1500th meeting were read and approved.
Twenty guests were present: John Bardwell, Peter Bedini, Danny Berler, Keal Byrne, Muriel Jerome-O’Keefe, Rebecca Mill, Rob Schneider, Faith Vilas, Bilal Asghar, Justin Bardwell, Ayesha Chaudry, Savannah Cordle, Tyler Craig, Chris Hiponia, Darian Kelly, Teo Kulsanhi EmilyAnn Pafford, Gloria Rutledge, Khalil Sekander, Sarah Yun
Five new members were announced: Mike Ackerson (CI); Marissa Dudek (NOVA); Angela Marusiak (UMD); Maureen Moses (AGI); Ken O'Donnell (AECOM)
Announcements:
1. President Noffke announced that Rich Lane of NSF Geosciences passed away in mid-October. The meeting attendees held a moment of silence.
2. Bret Leslie announced that the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board has a job posting for a Senior Professional Staff Geoscientist.
3. Bill Burton announced the GSW fall field trip will take place on Saturday, November 21 and is titled “Ancient and modern tectonism in the Central Virginia seismic zone.”
4. Maeve Boland announced the publication of AGI’s booklet titled “Geoscience for America’s Critical Needs: Invitation to a National Policy Dialogue,” which outlines high-level actions to address major policy issues where the geosciences play a significant role.
5. Nick Geboy reminded members that the GSW Facebook page is one location that members can use to announce job postings and items of interest to the GSW membership.
Formal Communications:
First, Jeanne Sauber of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center gave a talk titled “A synoptic view of earthquakes from the GRACE mission. Sauber described using GRACE observations along with seismic slip models, modeling of viscoelastic relaxation, and GPS to determine episodic and gradual gravity changes due to earthquakes to understand the solid Earth response to earthquakes and to provide the “correction models” that help to remove tectonic signals from GRACE data for climate studies.
Questions were asked by Brent Grocholski, Pete Toulmin, Mike Purucker, Bill Burton.
Second, Lara Wagner of the Carnegie Institution for Science gave a talk titled “Where’s the water? Volatile cycling from a seismologist’s perspective” in which she described using seismic tomography to determine that there is a layer of hydrated sediment enriched mantle above the Chile-Argentina flat slab.
Questions were asked by Brent Grocholski, Pat Carr, Jeanne Sauber.
Third, Louise Prockter of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory gave a talk titled “Subduction on Jupiter’s moon Europa: The case for plate tectonics in the ice shell.” Prockter described using Galileo spacecraft images to produce tectonic reconstructions of geologic features in a region of Europa showing evidence for dilational band spreading, transform motions along prominent strike-slip faults, as well as the removal of approximately 20,000 km2 of the surface along a discrete tabular zone. Prockter interpreted this zone as a subduction-like convergent boundary that abruptly truncates older geological features and is flanked by potential cryolavas on the overriding ice.
Questions were asked by Victor Zabielski, George Helz, Bill Burton, Callan Bentley, Dan Hummer, Brent Grocholski, Pete Toulmin, Jeanne Sauber.
The 1501st meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:46 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Devlin-Gill
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 1502nd Meeting
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
Geological Society of Washington President Nora Noffke called the 53 attendees at the 1502nd regular meeting of GSW to order at 8:01 pm.
The minutes of the 1501st meeting were read and approved with two corrections.
Seven guests were present: Dean Coughlin, Dean Kauffman (NVCC), Darian Kelly (NVCC), Abby Lunstrum (UVa), Jim Rustad (DOE), Gloria Rutledge (NVCC), Khalil Sekander (NVCC)
Two new members were announced: Tom Doody (UMD), Scott Wipperfurth (UMD)
Formal Communication:
First vice President Jamie Allan introduced the speaker, President Nora Noffke. Noffke gave the Presidential Address titled, “From volcanoes to hominoids – a geological visit to Germany.” Noffke presented a travel through Germany, starting at the coast in the north and moving to the Alps in the south. She explained that Holocene sea level rise has impacted the German coast already in historic times. Parts of the modern coast of Germany is made by humans employing dikes and Lahnungen (sediment-traps that build land towards the sea). Additionally, modern dikes function like natural coastal barriers, for example like in Portsmouth Island, Outer Banks. Noffke then discussed the world’s largest ammonite and the first fossil fragment of a Neanderthal hominoid. The correct interpretation that the fossilized bones constituted the remains of a pre-human species was made by Schaafhausen and Fuhlrott, but was belittled by the scientific community in 1856. Next, Noffke discussed Germany’s numerous inactive volcanoes, which form part of the tectonic Rheingraben that separates the French Vosges from the German Black Forest. Noffke noted that the Black Forest is known for its three-colored granite. A succession of Triassic and Jurassic shallow-marine sediments covers these basic rocks and form the typical landscape of ‘stairs’ towards the east of southwest Germany. The Mesozoic sediments are exceptionally rich in fossils and served for biostratigraphy. Noffke then visited the Noerdlinger Ries – a huge impact crater, where once the rock “suevit” was formed. Finally, Noffke arrived at the glacial lake “Bodensee”, an important fresh water source and tourist area for Germany.
The 1502nd meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:43 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Devlin-Gill
Geological Society of Washington
Minutes of the 123rd Annual Meeting
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
John Wesley Powell Auditorium,
Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
Geological Society of Washington President Nora Noffke called the 40 attendees at the 123rd annual meeting of GSW to order at 8:58 pm.
Council Secretary Barbara am Ende read the minutes from the 122nd Annual Meeting, which were approved with one correction.
Meetings Secretary Stephanie Devlin-Gill gave a presentation that summarized the society meetings during 2015. She announced the top dozen (or so) questioners and the Grand Inquisitor was awarded to Carl-Henry Geschwind.
Council Secretary Barbara am Ende gave a presentation that summarized the council meetings during 2015.
Treasurer Odette James gave a presentation that summarized the Treasurer and Finance Committee Report.
Auditing Committee Chair Brooks Hanson gave a presentation that summarized the Auditing Report.
Membership Committee Chair Nick Geboy gave a presentation that summarized the membership committee report.
President Noffke, standing in for Public Service Committee Chair Muffarah Marr, gave a presentation summarizing GSW’s public service in 2015.
Kori Newman presented for the Awards Committee. The Great Dane Award was given to Tim Mock for his informal presentation on the GSW’s 1500th meeting. The 2nd place winner of the Bradley Prize was Geoffrey Plumlee of USGS who presented at the 1497th regular meeting with a talk titled “Geosciences, human health, and disasters: Compelling examples of transdisciplinary science.” The 1st place winner of the Bradley Prize was Louise Prockter of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory who presented at the 1501st regular meeting with a talk titled “Subduction on Jupiter’s moon Europa: The case for plate tectonics in the ice shell.” The Sleeping Bear Award was presented to President Nora Noffke.
President Noffke announced the new officer slate for 2015, see the Appendix the slate. The officer nominations were approved by a vote of 38 to 0.
Outgoing President Noffke passed on the GSW gavel and Roberts Rules of Order to Incoming President Jaime Allan.
The 123rd Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of Washington was adjourned at 9:43 pm by President Allan.
Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Devlin-Gill
APPENDIX
Slate of Officers for 2016:
President: Jamie Allan*
Past-President: Nora Noffke*
1st VP & President Elect: Callan Bentley
2nd Vice President: Karen Prestegaard
Treasurer: Odette James
Meeting Secretary: Carl-Henry Geschwind
Council Secretary: Pat Carr
Continuing Councilors: Maeve Boland*
Rick Arevalo*
Diana Roman*
New GSW Councilors: Joshua Benton
(2016-2018) Mattia Pistone
Elizabeth Crafford
*Officers and councilors carrying over from 2015.